Local lawyer brings attention to Ontario’s debt with Halloween-themed display

If you’ve driven down Sandwich St. S. recently, you may have noticed the three-foot tombstones on the front lawn of Anthony Leardi’s law office.

Leardi explained his launch of the “Ontario Debt Graveyard,” on the front lawn of his 23 Sandwich St. law office, displays five tombstones, each with a fact about government debt and how it affects taxpayers. The idea started a few years ago, when he put a tombstone in his Halloween display at home which said “Honest taxpayer, born free, taxed to death.” He explained parents got a good laugh out of it, and he decided he needed to go bigger.

Amherstburg lawyer Anthony Leardi has put five tombstones on display on the front lawn of his business, each of which display a fact about the government debt and how it affects taxpayers.

“The facts are verified by the Ontario Budget Office, the Fraser Institute, and Bloomberg News,” said Leardi. “I decided to do this display to draw attention to the fact that the interest payments we have to pay on the government debt are a huge waste of money. Government debt is bad for taxpayers.”

Previously, Leardi was a municipal councilor and also served as the deputy mayor of Amherstburg from 2003-06, so political issues have always been a large part of his life.

One of the displays explains Ontario is spending over $31 million dollars per day just in interest payments on the debt. Another says Ontario’s interest payments at over $11 billion per year.

“I hope to show taxpayers how bad government debt is and how it negatively affects taxpayers,” said Leardi.